Judge weighs sorority sisters’ dispute over dog

A federal judge is deciding whether a dog trained to help an Ohio State University student during panic attacks can stay at her sorority house despite another student’s allergy.

The university ordered Madeleine Entine to remove her dog, Cory, from the Chi Omega sorority house because another resident, Carly Goldman, complained that the dog inflamed her allergies and, in turn, her Crohn’s disease.

A school official determined that both students were protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the only solution was to allow Goldman to stay because she signed up for her room first.

Entine filed a temporary restraining order against the university on Oct. 26. U.S District Judge Algenon Marbley is weighing whether to issue a permanent injunction allowing her and the dog to stay.

Goldman told the judge at a hearing last month that the dog’s presence aggravated digestive issues that left her ill for weeks.

“You about feel dead because you’re so helpless,” she said.

The dog is not allowed on the floor where Goldman lives, but she said other people sometimes transfer its hair and dander.

Entine says she suffers from panic attacks that make it difficult to breathe and sometimes render her immobile. Cory is trained to react by climbing on her torso.

“Cory’s presence on Ms. Entine’s torso helps relieve her panic attacks and restore her ability to breathe and move,” her complaint says.

The school offered to move either student to other housing, but they declined.